RRND Email Full Text (Scheduled)

  • Third batch of declassified UFO files reveals sightings around the world were investigated

    Source: NBC News

    “The Pentagon on Friday released a third batch of vintage classified files related to ‘flying saucers’ and other unidentified anomalous phenomena — better known to most Americans as unidentified flying objects, or UFOs — that the government has been hanging on to for decades. The 72 newly released files date from the 1940s to this year and showed that government investigators had looked into UFO sightings not just in the United States, but also around the world. The files contain more reports of UFO sightings from the public and more reports on the phenomenon from both the CIA and the FBI. … just as the two previous times when the government, at the urging of President Donald Trump, released two tranches of ‘never-before-seen’ files on a subject that has intrigued Americans for generations, the new document drop will likely be a disappointment to those seeking definitive proof that we are not alone in the universe.” (06/12/26)

    https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/third-batch-declassified-ufo-files-reveals-sightings-world-investigate-rcna349775

  • Mexico: Gunmen murder journalist

    Source: ABC News

    “Gunmen shot and killed a journalist Thursday in Mexico’s eastern state of Veracruz, authorities said. It was the country’s second killing of a media worker this year — both of them in Veracruz, known as exceptionally dangerous for journalists. The Veracruz prosecutor’s office confirmed the killing, while the State Commission for the Attention and Protection of Journalists identified the victim as Luis Ángel López Valdez. He was the director of a local media outlet and a reporter for the Vanguardia de Veracruz newspaper. According to Vanguardia, López Valdez was walking along a street in the city of Poza Rica when he was intercepted by gunmen who shot him at close range before fleeing. He specialized in police and security reporting.” (06/12/26)

    https://abcnews.com/International/wireStory/gunmen-shoot-kill-mexican-journalist-eastern-state-veracruz-133794679

  • Appeals court denies former crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried

    Source: United Press International

    “The conviction of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried will stay after an appeals court shot down his bid to overturn his 2023 conviction of fraud. Bankman-Fried, 34, a former cryptocurrency mogul and CEO, argued that his trial was unfair and that the firm would have paid out to investors in the long term. Judge Barrington Parker wrote in the ruling that ‘the government’s evidence against him was, conservatively stated, robust,’ Politico reported.” (06/12/26)

    https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/06/12/sam-bankman-fried-appeal-denied/9281781280437/


  • The forever war in Ukraine?

    Source: spiked
    by Frank Furedi

    “On 11 June 2026, we passed an important and disturbing milestone. This was the day that the war in Ukraine, at four years, three months and 15 days, surpassed the First World War in duration. Sometimes it can seem as if this conflict has turned into a genuine forever war. The seeming interminability of the war is not a surprise. As I argued in my 2022 book, The Road To Ukraine: How The West Lost Its Way, this was a conflict that neither side could afford to lose. And, as a result, it always threatened to become a typical frontier war that could last indefinitely.” (06/13/26)

    https://archive.is/W3T3J

  • Forget About “Healthy Life”

    Source: Brownstone Institute
    by Sinead Murphy

    “It has been reported that ‘healthy life expectancy’ in the UK has fallen during the past decade. Disparity between the ‘healthy life expectancy’ of those in different regions of the UK has been described. A 20-year gap between the ‘healthy life expectancy’ of those in Richmond and the ‘healthy life expectancy’ of those in Blackpool has been alleged. The concept of ‘healthy life expectancy’ has been bandied about as if we have used it always. Its precursor, ‘healthy lifestyle,’ is already ubiquitous. Its successor, surely to be ‘healthy lifespan.’ But the concept of ‘healthy life-anything’ should be unusable. It should say nothing. Like ‘unmarried bachelor.’ Or ‘free gift.’ Or ‘organic food.’” (06/12/26)

    https://brownstone.org/articles/forget-about-healthy-life/

  • Force, Direct and “Indirect”

    Source: Free Association
    by Sheldon Richman

    “In ‘The Right and Wrong of Compulsion by the State’ (1885), British liberal Auberon Herbert replied to those who objected to his call for complete individual liberty, that is, respect for the rights of all. For example, he took on big-government advocates who claimed that they also wanted to ‘diminish the use of force in the world.’ Herbert wasn’t buying it.” (06/12/26)

    https://sheldonrichman.substack.com/p/tgif-force-direct-and-indirect

  • Trump, Not Netanyahu, Has the Cards. He Should Play Them

    Source: The American Conservative
    by Josh Paul

    “The U.S.-Israel relationship has never been less popular in America, but at the same time that support for Israel is cratering in American public opinion, Congress appears to be fast-tracking an effort to entrench the relationship and give Israel enduring access to both our most sensitive technologies and our most sensitive intelligence — in exchange for nothing more, it seems, than a thank you note from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. … Given the challenges posed by the Israeli leader, a common complaint on both the right and the left of American politics is that Israel exerts far too much power in U.S. politics. But a closer look at the facts demonstrates that Netanyahu is actually in an incredibly weak position — or would be, if the administration was willing to assess and deal with the entire U.S.-Israel portfolio holistically.” (06/12/26)

    https://www.theamericanconservative.com/trump-not-netanyahu-has-the-cards-he-should-play-them/

  • Social Security Insolvency: The Lies and the Fixes

    Source: Karl Dickey’s Freedom Vanguard
    by Karl Dickey

    “Citizens worry about promised benefits as the Trust Fund runs dry by 2033. Instead of tax hikes that punish the young, here are four proven reforms.” (06/12/26)

    https://palmbeachexaminer.substack.com/p/social-security-insolvency-the-lies

  • Churchill, Keynes, and the General Strike at 100

    Source: EconLog
    by John Phelan

    “When Winston Churchill was named Chancellor in November 1924, he is said to have assumed it was the largely ceremonial post of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and was as surprised as anyone, given his lack of interest in economics, to find that it was Chancellor of the Exchequer, constitutionally the second most powerful office in the British government. ‘I was surprised,’ he wrote, ‘and the Conservative Party dumbfounded.’ The controversy that would follow Churchill’s tenure has implications for policy debates today. It all has to do with macroeconomics and exchange rates: how they affect trade and development, whether they should be fixed or floating, and the problems these questions create for policymakers. In the short term, the decisions Churchill made led to the General Strike of 1926, and these debates continue to echo in the longer term.” (06/12/26)

    https://www.econlib.org/econlog/churchill-keynes-and-the-general-strike-at-100

  • In an age of “false realism,” Pope Leo presses for strategic restraint

    Source: Responsible Statecraft
    by Joshua Villanueva

    “Observers could easily dismiss Pope Leo XIV’s ‘Magnifica Humanitas’ as just another document on artificial intelligence. But under the surface lies a deeper question: whether modern political elites still have both the ability and the moral clarity to place restraints on power.” (06/12/26)

    https://responsiblestatecraft.org/pope-leo-on-war/

  • The Declaration of Independence versus Egalitarianism

    Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
    by Joshua Mawhorter

    “As we approach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, it is likely that we will hear a common, but mistaken, interpretation of the Declaration by both establishment conservatives and progressive egalitarians. After repeating Jefferson’s words ‘that all men are created equal,’ they will make a simple, true observation — at the time of writing, not everyone was treated as ‘equal’ (e.g., slavery). Following that observation comes the supposition: since the historical period of colonial America did not match the ideal of modern, progressive egalitarianism, therefore, the centralized nation-state was required to increasingly achieve that ideal.” (06/12/26)

    https://mises.org/mises-wire/declaration-independence-versus-egalitarianism

  • America the Unfree — Home of the Policed, Surveilled and Occupied

    Source: CounterPunch
    by John W Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead

    “America has become an occupied nation. Not by one invading army, but by many occupying powers: the police state, the surveillance state, the war state, the corporate state, the foreign influence machine, and a ruling class that treats the American people as little more than collateral damage in its pursuit of power, profit and control. We have been policed, surveilled, taxed, indebted, manipulated, censored, tracked, searched, silenced and sold out.” (06/12/26)

    https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/06/12/america-the-unfree-home-of-the-policed-surveilled-and-occupied/

  • The Beau Idéal Historian

    Source: Law & Liberty
    by Aaron N Coleman

    “The celebrations of the 250th anniversary of independence will be a bit dimmer now with the sudden passing of the greatest historian of the American founding, Gordon S. Wood. Since the 1960s, Wood stood at the pinnacle of the historical profession. The list of awards and accolades he received over his sixty-year career, including the National Medal of the Humanities, is longer than most academics’ CVs. For all the deserved laurels, however, Wood accomplished something most academics only dream of: he crossed into popular culture.” (06/12/26)

    https://lawliberty.org/the-beau-ideal-historian/

  • Celebrate the Fourth of July. But Don’t Forget the Twelfth of June.

    Source: Independent Institute
    by William J Watkins, Jr.

    “Naturally, the main event of America’s 250th anniversary celebrations will be the Fourth of July, in honor of the Declaration of Independence. But a little tailgate party would be appropriate for the Twelfth of June. For it was on that date, 250 years ago, that Virginia’s Declaration of Rights was adopted. Written primarily by George Mason, Virginia’s declaration inspired Thomas Jefferson in writing the nation’s founding document. It set forth in plain language America’s first principles and provided guideposts for the establishment of a republican government.” (06/12/26)

    https://www.independent.org/article/2026/06/12/celebrate-the-fourth-of-july-but-dont-forget-the-twelfth-of-june/

  • Punish Energy Producers?

    Source: Common Sense
    by Paul Jacob

    “The latest attempt to hamper our ability to do things? A series of lawsuits against oil companies for allegedly committing global warming. The plaintiffs want billions and billions to be extracted from these companies for fueling civilization.” (06/12/26)

    https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/06/12/punish-energy-producers/

  • Graham Platner Signals a Problem for Democrats, and the Rest of Us

    Source: Reason
    by JD Tuccille

    “The ‘progressive’ wing of the Democratic Party is on a roll, winning nominations and elections. Left-wing leaders are taking earned victory laps as they chalk up victories for candidates espousing socialism, hostility to Israel (and often Jews), identity politics, and other leftist positions that were until recently thankfully rare in American politics. But the radicals’ support for Maine’s deeply troubled Graham Platner, who won the party’s nod to compete in the U.S. Senate race, shows the dangers posed by a movement that seemingly holds ideological lunacy as its highest value. It’s not clear that anybody is in a position to stop them.” (06/12/26)

    https://reason.com/2026/06/12/graham-platner-signals-a-problem-for-democrats-and-the-rest-of-us/

  • Why Bother Considering Whether Government is Necessary?

    Source: Freedom and Flourishing
    by Winton Bates

    “Is the existence of government an issue that should occupy the minds of those who believe that liberty supports human flourishing? As far as I know, there is no country in the world in which citizens are currently faced with a choice between having a minimal state or no state at all. In liberal democracies – the countries that currently enjoy the greatest personal and economic freedom – liberty is being threatened by political movements with authoritarian tendencies. Authoritarianism is presented in the wrapping of different varieties of collectivist idealism which offer citizens the opportunity to attribute personal and social problems to immigration, foreign competition, the greed of the wealthy, systemic discrimination, environmental degradation or anything else that appears to justify a larger role for government. Shouldn’t libertarians be focusing their attention on supporting the political/legal order – democracy, or representative government – that has been most successful in promoting personal and economic freedom?” (06/12/26)

    https://www.freedomandflourishing.com/2026/06/why-bother-considering-whether.html